The Partingtons and their windmill
Partington’s Windmill was one of Tāmaki Makaurau's early lost landmarks, demolished in April 1950. One hundred years before, in 1850, the miller, engineer and entrepreneur Charles Frederick Partington commissioned millwright Henry White to build him a six-storeyed brick windmill on the high ridge above the town, near the intersection of the walking tracks along the Karangahape Road and Symonds Street ridges. Partington started grinding flour and grain there in late 1851. Image: John Coomer. Partington’s Mill, Mill Lane, Auckland Central, 1890s. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, 1729-156. The windmill soon became a well-known navigational landmark for seafarers and a favoured feature for local artists. You can see it on the top-left on the distant ridge beyond Queen Street in Patrick Joseph Hogan’s 1852 lithograph shown below. Image: Patrick Joseph Hogan. Auckland in 1852, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, NZG-18920521-0518-01. Partington’s Windmill was also a good va...